Nurak
Encyclopedia
Nurek is a city in the Khatlon province of Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

. It is situated on the Vakhsh River
Vakhsh River
The Vakhsh has been intensively developed for human use. Electricity, aluminum, and cotton are the mainstays of Tajikistan’s economy, and the Vakhsh is involved with all three of these sectors. Hydroelectricity provides 91% of the country’s electricity as of 2005, and 90% of that total comes from...

, 885 m above sea level, and is 70 km southeast of Dushanbe
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...

, the capital. It has a population of 18,950 (2008 estimate).

The city was founded in 1960 alongside the construction of Nurek Dam
Nurek Dam
The Nurek Dam is an earth fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1980, when Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union. At it is currently the tallest dam in the world...

, which was completed in 1980.

The city also has a military area housing personnel working at the nearby optical satellite tracking facility, the Okno ("Window") complex38.281°N 69.225°E, belonging to the Russian Space Forces
Russian Space Forces (VKS)
The Russian Space Forces is the branch of the Russian Military responsible for military space operations. Established on August 10, 1992, following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Russian Armed Forces, the organisation shares control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the...

. The Okno is capable of tracking objects 40000 kilometres (24,854.9 mi) from Earth, the space forces said in a statement carried by the Interfax-Military News Agency when it was put on duty in 2002. The facility involves telescope-like equipment housed in several large spheres, similar to the U.S. GEODSS system.
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